Abstract submitted for ASA in Chicago on Graduate Studies

The Acoustical Society of America is holding 179th Meeting in Chicago 11-15th May 2020. The Acoustics Group were asked to present at the meeting in the poster session entitled, "Graduate Studies". The paper we decided upon is "Masters course in Environmental and Architectural Acoustics in London: A route on to our PhD programme". Professor Peter Mapp has kindly agreed to present the work. Lucky him!

Four Potential Fully Funded PhD Scholarships in Acoustics

The School of the Built Environment and Architecture are offering 4 fully funded PhD scholarships open to all - UK, EU or International students. The Acoustics Group have three possible research topics 1) additive manufacture and acoustics, 2) low carbon materials and sound attenuation and 3) urban noise from rotary aircraft. The deadline is 20 Jan 2020. There's also a fourth in ultrasonic imaging of tissues in the School of Engineering. Here are the links LSBU, and FindaPhD

Noise exposure abstract accepted for 27th ICSV, July 2020

An abstract of an article submitted to the 27^th International Congress on Sound and Vibration (ICSV) has been recently accepted by the congress reviewing panel. The abstract has been written by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina and is entitled “Noise exposure from explosions during handling of small volumes of Hydrogen-Air mixture ”. The international acoustics conference will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from 12 to 16 July 2020. We hope to see you at the conference.

Abstract accepted for 27th at ICSV Prague

An abstract of an article submitted to the 27^th International Congress on Sound and Vibration has been recently accepted by the congress reviewing panel. The abstract has been written by PhD candidate Suzana Zekic and PhD director of studies Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina. It is entitled “Developing Test Procedures for the Characterisation of the Acoustic Properties of Alternative Ventilation Ducts”. The international acoustics conference will take place in Prague between 12 and 16 July 2020. We hope to see you at the conference.

Summing Up Acoustics 2019

We thank you all for your support over 2019. To summarise our busiest year ever: Links with the Institute of Acoustics strengthened further with LSBU hosting 3 key evening meetings delivered by leading professors, as well as IOA and MSc students presenting their work to London branch in January and July. Three papers were published on metadiffusers, stethoscopes and bone vibration, as well as 20 conference papers from staff, PhD candidates, IOA and MSc students. The conferences were held in Milton Keynes, Madrid, Aachen, Ischia, and Bristol. Prizes were won by PhD candidate Rodrigo Sanchez-Perez for applying lecturing technology, Grame Littleford won the Newman Medal for his Masters thesis, and Visiting Professor Peter Mapp was awarded the IOA Engineering Medal. In addition the whole team won the BuroHappo prize. Both the IOA and CIBSE re-accredited the courses where acoustic is taught. Sponsorship and support was extended by both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Opera House. We welcomed back Suzana Zekic from Imtech as a PhD candidate and we sadly said goodbye to Dr Bob Peters. Next year will be momentous as we start our new Apprenticeship in Acoustics course and welcome PhD candidate Luciana Alves who is over from Brazil. Happy New Year to you all.

Institute of Acoustics Engineering Medal Winner!

Every two years the Institute of Acoustics awards the Engineering Medal to a member for their outstanding contribution in the field of acoustical engineering. This year's winner is Professor Peter Mapp for his work in electro-acoustics. Peter will be presented with the award when he gives the keynote at Reproduced Sound this coming November!

Air Quality and Noise Pilot Study

On a cold and damp day, 13th December 2019, a pilot test around Borough in London was undertaken. The test was to use noise and an identifier  of temporal and spatial air population. Working with Dr Luc Dekoninck of Ghent University a team of PhD students measured sound levels a fixed points whilst mobile air quality and sound levels were sampled around the local area. The work will later be compared to that measured by the MAGIC project. Hot chocolate was offered to keep everyone going! 

Acoustics Associates Christmas Lunch

The annual  Acoustics Group Christmas lunch was held on 11th December 2019 as a thank you to those who helped over the past year. These included UKAN committee members, judges of student projects and of course the PhD student who we rely on when random things happen!

Acoustics Group team up with Edinburgh University on Royal Opera House project

On the 9th December 2019 the Acoustics Group and Dr Brian Hamilton  of Audio and Acoustics Group of University of Edinburgh agreed to team up. The project with funding from the Royal Opera House is to deliver computer simulations of the auditorium using new GPU powered wave based models to allow realistic Virtual Reality environments to be built. 

Journal paper published in Applied Acoustics

On the 7th December 2019 Dr Haydar Aygun published a new scientific paper in Applied Acoustics in the April 2020 edition. The research is entitled, "The quality and reliability of mechanical stethoscopes and Laser Doppler Vibrometer to record tracheal sounds" and it is a joint work with Alek Apolskis of Socoteck UK. Here's the link.

Abstract submitted to Forum Acusticum 2020

PhD candidate Eric Ballestero and Dr Brian Hamilton have submitted an abstract to Forum Acusticum 2020 to be help in Lyon April 20-24th. The papet will cover there joint work on the validation of an FDTD model to simulation the performance of a meta diffuser. We hope they both enjoy Spring in France

Noise control in Off Shore platforms by Spectrum Acoustics

Chris Anderson Principal consultant of Spectrum Acoustics , delivered on 5th Dec 2019 an informative seminar to the 2019-20 LSBU Diploma students.  The session discussed in detail noise control and acoustic design in off shore platforms.  Chris shared some  useful consultancy and commercially laden insights which complemented very well the  technical and practical aspect of the talk. The was facilitated by Diploma course director Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina after a conversation on future collaborations with Spectrum Acoustics when they visited LSBU careers fair in Nov 2019.

Collaboration on a sonic art talk by Sonible

On the 29th November 2019 a collaboration between acoustics and sonic art was held at the South Bank Sound Lab sponsored by the UK Acoustics Network. A talk was given on immersive audio using the IKO speaker. Demonstrations of specially composed pieces were presented to illustrate the new capabilities of the speaker system.

Core Tetra Microphone Tested with own MATLAB code

The Acoustics Group now has a A format surround sound microphone for room acoustics measurements from Core instruments- the Tetra Mic. The B formating code was completed in MATLAB by PhD candidate Eric Ballestero this week and proved to work well! Testing in orchestra pits will start in the new year!

A new working group is formed by the LSBU Acoustic Group

On 02 Dec 2019 the first meeting of a new working group to assist developing test methods to determine  acoustic properties of ventilation ducts took place at the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) head quarters in London. The working group has been created by Dr Luis Gomez-Agustina, LSBU PhD candidate and Imtech engineer Suzana Zekic and head of research at CIBSE Dr Anastasia Mylona.  

The group is formed by ten industry experts in building services noise and mechanical ventilation senior engineers.  Our thanks to the members and Anastasia for facilitating the meeting , the great venue  and the delicious lunch !